For two periods, Bridgeport was able to hang tough with Fairmont Senior despite being punished on the boards, turning the ball over and missing far too many free throws. In the second half, those basketball sins caught up with the Indians and ended their season.

 

The No. 7-seeded Tribe fell to No. 2 Fairmont Senior by a 65-41 score this afternoon in the opening round of the Class AA state girls’ basketball tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

 

With the setback, BHS closes its season at 16-10. The Polar Bears move to 22-4 and will battle North Marion Friday in the semifinals.

 

While there were plenty of statistics Coach Dennis Hutson could point to, none of those statistics were more devastating than the offensive rebounds his team allowed. Not only did BHS get hammered on the board by a 47-22 count, FSHS actually had more offensive rebounds in the game with 27.

 

The result was 26 second chance points for the Polar Bears. Ultimately, it also led to the end of the line for the Tribe.

 

“Fairmont Senior is so much physically superior to us strength wise,” said Hutson. “They’re pretty long and we couldn’t keep them off the offensive glass. They got 30 more shots than we did today. It would have taken a monumental task to overcome that.”

 

Anysa Jordan was the main culprit for Fairmont Senior. The 6’1 sophomore finished with 14 rebounds and 10 of those came off the offensive glass. The boards helped lead to a game-high 27 points on 8-of-16 shooting. On the majority of the misses, she or teammate Erica Bowles stuck it back in.

 

Bowles was just as much of a problem. She finished with 23 points and 10 boards, including six offensive rebounds.

 

The other stats were just as unkind. The Indians committed 24 turnovers and finished 12-of-23 from the foul line, while Fairmont was a more efficient 21-of-29 from the stripe. The turnovers led to 23 FSHS points.

 

Despite the lopsided final score, the game never got out of hand for Bridgeport until the second half. And it didn’t seem like that would be the case early on as the Polar Bears exploded late in the first period after a strong start by the Tribe.

 

The Indians led 8-6 thanks to a pair of Emily Riggs drives to the basket and keeping control of the ball. The aggressiveness by Riggs would continue throughout on the offensive end as she was the only player in double figures by game’s end with 12.

 

Then, with 2:56 left, point guard Gianina Renzelli picked up her second foul. After that, the Bears turned up their already strong pressure defense and went on a period-ending run.

 

“She sat a lot of minutes in the first half and using a seven-man rotation most of the season it made things difficult in that regard,” said Hutson.

 

In the last 2:24, Fairmont Senior went on a 13-3 surge as Bowles led the charge. Bowles buried a pair of 3-point field goals, including one from NBA range to put Fairmont up 19-11 after one period and also up in the momentum department.

 

The lead would grow to as many as 12 points at 24-12 at the 5:15 mark of the second period when Angela DeLorenzo connected on a 15-foot jump shot. At that point, Bridgeport seemed to be on its last legs.

 

However, the Tribe still had plenty to give. Kaitlin Smith started and finished a 9-2 run with a pair of 3-pointers to get BHS within five points – 26-21 – with 1:53 to play. The second 3-point basket came when she scooped up a loose ball at the top of the key and calmly drained the triple.

 

BHS would cut the lead to five on two more occasions before ending up trailing 32-25 at the intermission. And when looking at the stat sheet two things seemed obvious – BHS could have been down a whole lot more or the game could have been much closer.

 

The Tribe was a woeful 5-of-13 from the charity stripe in the first 16 minutes of play. Seven of those eight misses came in the second period when the Tribe was trying to make a run.

 

“Early on, we just weren’t good at the foul line and that was disappointing because we had been very good at the foul line this season. That would have kept us in a two or three-point ball game,” said Hutson.

 

While the Indians blew a chance at the foul line to be closer, Hutson was also probably pleased with the fact the lead wasn’t worse considering the number of turnovers and offensive rebounds allowed by his squad. Bridgeport turned it over 14 times and allowed 11 Fairmont Senior offensive rebounds.

 

“We felt we hadn’t played very well and were still in it and had an opportunity,” said Hutson about the halftime deficit.

 

Fairmont Senior was 11-of-34 from the field, while BHS was a solid 9-of-17. Unfortunately, too many turnovers and too many second chances given up to the Polar Bears negated that advantage.

 

Bowles finished the first half with 14 points. Jordan added 10 points and 9 rebounds.

 

Bridgeport was led by Riggs with seven points. Smith and Quinn Stalnaker both had six points.

 

The hopes of the Indians slowly began to wither in the third period. After Bridgeport fell behind 36-25 early in the frame, the closest they would get would come at the 6:29 mark when Riggs stole the ball, went coast to coast and was fouled for a conventional three-point play and what would be a 36-28 deficit.

 

It would be the last time Bridgeport would only trail by single digits. Any hopes that BHS would battle back were hamstrung when senior post player Quinn Stalnaker picked up her fourth foul with 3:27 to play in the third period.

 

Fairmont ended up in front 53-36 after three when Stalnaker returned for the final eight minutes. However, the senior center’s time on the court was limited. Just 50 seconds into the final period, Stalnaker went out of the game with her fifth foul.  Any hopes for a miraculous comeback may have evaporated at that point.

 

“It was a big factor,” said Hutson of Stalnaker’s foul trouble. “They just pushed out higher and higher (defensively). Early we got the ball down inside and Quinn got a couple of easy buckets over the top … Losing Quinn hurt us size wise because we’re not very big to begin with.”

 

There was little suspense in the final period. Fairmont added to its advantage on its way to the win.

 

Smith finished with nine points. She went 3-for-6 from deep for her total. Michaela Antill came off the bench and provided solid minutes with seven points and a team-high four rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

 

Riggs’ game-high point total was the result of 4-of-8 shooting from the field and foul line.

 

“I thought Emily did a great job. She had a great game for us as a sophomore and for the first time being in the state tournament,” said Hutson. “I thought she was very assertive.”

 

The contest was the final one for Stalnaker, Antill, Renzelli and sixth man Stephanie Alvaro. Several key players return next year and Hutson is hoping for good things.

 

“I’m proud of our kids. We hung in there and fought all the way. We just hopefully learn from this experience and the kids coming back will take advantage of this opportunity,” said Hutson.  

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com.